“Majestic” Series: A Majestic Completion
1st Peter 2:9
Introduction:
By God’s grace we’re winding up the “Majestic” series this morning. It’s a series that talks about the majestic life you have in Christ. And it focuses on the calling, the commitment, the consecration, and the completeness, of the life God has brought you into via the New Birth.
The series is based on 1st Peter 2:9…and prayerfully, it’ll help you understand more fully what you are saved to be.
Why don’t you stand with me, and let’s read that text aloud together now.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Let’s pray together now…that our hearts will be open to what we’re going to hear in the next few minutes.
Destinations matter.
I know it’s been popular for quite a while to say things like, “It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.” And I think I get that…I think I get what that bit of popular “wisdom” is trying to tell us. You know, take time to appreciate the journey itself. Don’t be so focused on the destination that you miss the good, the joy, and the beauty of the journey.
After all, there’s a lot to be gained on the journey itself! There’s a lot to be learned, a lot to be enjoyed, on the journey. So yeah…the journey is important. But still; destinations matter.
During my childhood my dad was in the ministry and in the army, so we traveled a lot…and most of our travel from one place to another was done by car. Then, our family vacations were almost always road trips. And sometimes during the holidays we’d load into the car and drive a thousand miles to be home for Christmas. So, we did lots of driving on a lot of roads.
And there were always maps…plenty of maps…folded and refolded…with markings on them where dad had painstakingly planned the route. Evening stops at a motel would find a map spread out on a table as dad checked and rechecked the route, planning the driving for the next day.
I learned something in all that…I mean, besides how to use a roadmap. I learned that it was good to talk to other people who’d traveled that route before. They knew if there were construction delays. They knew where you needed to be very careful about traffic laws, because there were some places where you did not want to get pulled over. They knew about gas stations, motels, and restaurants.
But I think that the most important thing I learned was that destinations matter. I learned that you really need to know where you’re headed, where you want to wind up. After all, Bedford and New Bedford aren’t the same place. Neither are Attleboro and North Attleboro. And no one will ever mistake Sydney, Nova Scotia, for Sydney, Australia. Or Paris, Maine for Paris, France.
We enjoyed the journey; we’d stop at places of interest, at scenic pull-offs, and most always took time to have fun on the way. But ultimately, we wanted to arrive at a particular place…at our destination.
So, while I think I understand what people mean when they say, “It’s the journey”…well…I have to disagree. The significance of the journey lies in the destination. In all our travels during my childhood, we tried hard not to get lost, take a wrong road, or miss the right exit…because we had a destination in mind.
You know, the Christian life is a lot like that. It’s a journey…most definitely! And there are things we learn, things we experience, on that journey. There are valleys we pass through and rivers we cross over and mountains we climb…and there’s a lot to be said for the journey itself.
But every step on our Christian journey is taking us someplace. There’s a destination. There’s an end-goal. There’s a finish line. There’s a definite point of completion. Our journey isn’t on a road meandering to nowhere in particular; there’s a very specific someplace it’s taking us. And if we stay on the road, that’s where we’ll end our journey.
And by God’s grace, that’s what I want to talk to you about today…about the completion of that journey. I want to talk to you about where God’s really taking us…about what He had in mind for us way back when He saved us and placed us on this glory road.
Let’s pray again right now…
I. What’s the Point, Anyway?
Listen to the following three words; information, misinformation, disinformation. One can be informed, misinformed, or disinformed…and it’s important to know the difference between them all.
Information is knowledge & facts about a certain subject, things that are correct, true, and are presented in their proper context.
Misinformation is knowledge and facts that are incorrect & untrue…or, while correct and true, are presented out of context in a way that distorts meaning. Yet this is done without intent. When false information isn’t presented with the intent to deceive or mislead, that’s called misinformation. Misinformation is like a mistake or a misstep.
So, for example, if your neighbor (with all good & helpful intentions) tells you that eggs are on sale at the grocery store for one dollar per dozen, and you arrive there only to discover they’re actually four dollars a dozen, that’s misinformation. The knowledge was incorrect, and the facts were wrong, but the intention was good. Your neighbor had no intent to deceive you.
Disinformation is also untrue knowledge and incorrect facts. Or, it can be true information presented out of context so that meaning is distorted…and all of this is intentional. The deception is purposeful, and the motives behind it are usually questionable.
So, for example, your neighbor tells you that eggs are on sale at the grocery store for a dollar a dozen…while knowing full well they’re really four dollars a dozen. And their intention is to purposefully deceive you. Why? Who knows? But not only is the knowledge incorrect and the facts wrong, the intention is to deceive. That’s disinformation.
Ok…you may be wondering what any of this has to do with today’s topic. 😊 Well, it’s this;
A lot of Christians have been…over the years…presented with misinformation when it comes to the purpose of their salvation and the goal of the Christian journey. That means that it was incorrect but presented with good intentions…there was no intent to deceive, trick, or manipulate.
That misinformation about the Christian journey includes the idea that the point of it all is avoiding hell and going to heaven. But…that’s not the point. The goal of the Christian life is not to avoid hell. And…sorry to disappoint you…but our ultimate destination isn’t heaven.
That doesn’t mean that hell and heaven aren’t real places; they are. And it doesn’t mean that we won’t go to heaven when we die; we will. But avoiding hell isn’t the point. And heaven isn’t really our destination. For us, avoiding hell and going to heaven are benefits, but not the purpose…they’re not the goal. God has something else…something greater…in mind.
Then, other Christians have been presented with disinformation about the purpose and goal of the Christian journey. That means it’s not only incorrect, but it’s purposefully deceptive. And in my experience, those who preach this disinformation are usually motivated by their own selfishness and greed.
That disinformation about the Christian journey includes the ideas that the point of it all is for you to live your best life now, for you to become the best “you” that you can possibly be, and that satisfaction, acquisition, and achievement in this life are God’s greatest desires for you.
But any serious study of the Scriptures at all will show that none of those things are the point, and that none of those things represent God’s greatest desire for you. God has something else in mind…and it’s a far greater purpose than your momentary happiness and personal prosperity.
II. Reconciliation, Resurrection, & Restoration
To grasp the point of it all…the destination…what the ultimate completion of the Christian journey will look like, there are two things we need to understand.
First, we need to understand that the plans and purposes of God are implemented over mind boggling spans of time. God plans and works over the course of human ages as you and I would plan for a day. Get this; our way of thinking about how and when things should happen has no bearing on God’s plan and God’s timing whatsoever.
Peter tries to clue us in when he writes in and says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2nd Peter 3:8)
He’s not saying that a thousand years of our time is one day with God…you know, so 7000 human years are equal to seven days…no, that’s not what he’s saying.
He’s saying one day with the Lord is AS a thousand years…it’s like a thousand years. It’s like Peter’s saying this, “You know how you think about the things you’re going to do today? Well, God does that same thing…but on a vastly different time scale.”
Ok…set that on the back burner of your mind for a moment, but don’t forget it.
Now, the second thing we need to understand is that the intention of God from the very beginning of creation has not changed. If you want to understand what the ultimate completion of the Christian journey will look like, you have to start by understanding God’s intention at the beginning. That means you need to have a solid grasp of what God had going on in the very first chapters of Genesis.
Genesis 1:27 tells us that human beings…both male and female…were made in the image of God. That doesn’t mean that humans looked like God, it means they represented God in the natural world.
And as God rules wisely over the universe, human beings were to rule wisely over the natural world as stewards of God’s creation. As humans were to look to God for guidance and help, the natural world was to look to humans for guidance and help. Human beings were to be God’s ambassadors¸ revealing the goodness of God to the natural world.
Sin changed everything…sin corrupted everything…we know that. But sin did not and has not altered God’s intention. God’s plan through the ages has always included fulfilling His own intention of having human beings as His representatives in the natural world, revealing His own character and nature in the world. God’s plan is still to have human beings in His own image and likeness.
Here's what I’m telling you; that your journey toward completion unfolds over the course of your entire life, a little bit here and a little bit there. God doesn’t work in your life in terms of moments and hours and days, but in terms of years and decades…over your entire lifespan.
It begins when you’re reconciled to God through the process of salvation, and continues to work through all the times of your life. It’s not something that unfolds in a moment, and it’s not just about what you experience in a particular hour…God is working in you to bring you to completion over the course of your entire life.
That’s why He can be so patient with you and gracious to you; to God, it’s never just about the moment, His work in you is about the entire span of your life! From the moment you bow your knee to Him in faith & repentance until the moment you draw your last breath, He’s at work in your life!
He was at work in you when you were young and fresh and full of energy, and He’ll be at work in you when you’re old and bent and weary. He’s at work in you now when your children are at your knees, and He’ll be at work in you when you’re holding your great-grandchildren on in your arms. His plan is being worked out in you over the entire span of your life!
But wait! That’s not where it ends! Because the work and plan of God for you continues after your physical body dies! None of us know what happens in the realm of Heaven, but it’s not hard to assume that He continues His work on your soul and spirit until that Great Day of the Resurrection!
And on that day, your incorruptible spirit will be united with a resurrected, refashioned, incorruptible physical body…and you will stand complete in Christ’s image and likeness…ready to fulfill what God has intended for humanity from the beginning!
Then, all things will be restored; all of the created order, all of the natural world…perfectly and completely restored! All of it functioning as God intended from the beginning, with us being His kings & priests…His image…His representatives in the world. No more death! No more hell! No more sickness! No more sorrow! All as God intended…all as God has planned.
And that’s the point of it all! That’s the destination! That’s what the ultimate completion of the Christian journey will look like!
III. What Do You Want, Really?
The Apostle John wrote, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1st John 3:2-3, ESV)
That’s where God’s taking us; He’s making us like Jesus…as Jesus was the image of the invisible God.
On the way from now to then, we live in this fallen world transformed by His grace, empowered by His Spirit. We live as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, by Kingdom Values, according to Kingdom Culture. We live at peace, we love each other & others, we serve each other & others, we do good, we live holy lives.
We live as a Kingdom enclave until the great day that Christ returns and His Kingdom fills all the earth, and all things are made new…and we are completed, made fully in Christ’s image & likeness.
That’s what God wants for us. That’s where He plans on taking us. That’s what He’s predestined us to be. But that destiny being fulfilled, that destination being reached, is fundamentally contingent on one thing; desire. God wants that destination for you, but is that what you want?
You know, in the first heady days of our walk with the Lord…in that initial conscious experience of salvation…we do! In all my years as a pastor, I’ve never met a single new convert, one single person in whom the experience of salvation was fresh & new, that didn’t want that. Oh…they might not say it like that…but they wanted what Jesus wanted for them.
So, what happens? What keeps us from this golden dream? What makes our path diverge from His intended path until we lose the way? Well, somewhere along the way we stop wanting what God wants. What we want for ourselves starts to diverge from what God wants for us.
It all comes down to desire. And the question that remains is, “What do you want?”
Closing:
God has called us to a majestic sort of life. It’s a distinctive life…a life that shines like a light in the darkness of the world around us. And in these first few weeks of 2023, He’s been trying to make us more aware of that, more conscious of that…so that we can live this year on a higher plane…consciously being His people…doing His work in the world.
I close now with this reading from Philippians 1:1-6…
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
This is the Word of the Lord! And let all the people say, “Amen!”
